JRL expresses concern Kashmiri prisoners’ plight

Srinagar, Oct 23: Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik expressed serious concern over the plight of hundreds of Kashmiri prisoners lodged in various jails in and outside the State stating that ill treatment is being meted out to them across the jails.
In a joint statement issued to KNS, the leadership said that in Delhi’s notorious Tihar jail resistance leaders who are being detained there including Shabir Ahmed Shah, Altaf Fantoosh, Advocate Shahidul Islam, Ayaz Akbar, Peer Saifullah, Mehrajudin Kalwal, Nayeem Ahmed Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar and others including some businessman are being deprived even the basic facilities including access to medical aid. The leadership said that jail authorities are badly treating all these leaders in complete violation of jail manual.
The leadership said that when relatives of the leaders met them at Tihar recently, they came to know that proper food ,bedding and other basic facilities, which otherwise are even available to hardcore criminals is denied to them and they are rarely allowed to move out of their cells into open space in the jail.
The leadership said these leaders are not criminals involved in any crime who have been put behind bars but representatives of the true political aspirations of people of Kashmir who are being punished for pleading the people’s cause from the front.
They said those claiming to be the champions of democracy are violating the basic norms of humanity by the treatment that is they are meting out to these leaders.
The leadership said that Muhammad Yasin Malik today led a delegation to Gogji bagh office of ICRC. At the office Malik spoke over phone to Deputy Head of ICRC, Adebayo in New Delhi and stressed for immediate intervention over the plight of Kashmiri resistance leaders and prisoners lodged in Kathua jail in Jammu and Tihar jail in New Delhi. Malik also highlighted the cases of many prisoners who are being denied trial and urged the ICRC deputy head to build pressure on New Delhi to end the inhuman behaviour towards Kashmiri prisoners in jails across India.
The delegation also asked the deputy head as to why not even a single delegation of ICRC had conducted any visit to J&K and outside jails since past one year to check the plight of Kashmiri prisoners. Malik urged the ICRC representative to immediately plan a thorough visit to all jails in J&K and outside wherever Kashmiri prisoners are lodged to take the firsthand account of the treatment given to them.
Meanwhile, the leadership said that they will also lodge a complaint before SHRC about the maltreatment to Kashmiri prisoners in JK jails and in jails outside the State. (KNS)